World Cup 2006: Day 18
The round of 16 continued today with Italy v Australia first followed by Switzerland v Ukraine. After the farcical refereeing of yesterday, everyone was simply hoping for the game of football to take centerstage instead of the men in black!
The Italians got off to a good start against the Australians and created a number of good chances in the first half. Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni were denied by a couple of excellent stops by Aussie keeper Mark Schwarzer. Australia were content to put men behind the ball and try to catch the Italians on the counterattack. With Harry Kewell injured, Australia were forced to play with just Mark Viduka as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation. It remained 0-0 at the interval with the Italians just having the better run of play in a tight contest. Italy coach Marcello Lippi chose to replace Gilardino with Vincenzo Iaquinta after the break and he immediately set up Luca Toni with a great cross but the big striker fired well over the bar from 12 yards out! Then, on 51 minutes, Italy were reduced to 10 men when Marco Materazzi was shown a straight red card for a two footed, studs-up tackle on Australia's Marco Bresciano. The Aussies sensed the momentum shifting and had much of the ball for the remainder of the second half, but were unable to break down a well-organized Italian defence marshalled by the excellent Fabio Cannavaro. Lippi then put on star forward Francesco Totti, who was surprisingly omitted from the starting lineup, for Alessandro Del Piero. This proved to be a masterstroke from Lippi, as leftback Fabio Grosso went charging up the field in the 92nd minute and was brought down, albeit rather unfortunately, by Lucas Neill. The referee awarded the Italians a penalty, and Totti stepped up and coolly fired Italy into the quarterfinals with the last kick of the game!!! Utter disappointment for the game Australians, though the final result was fair since the Australians hardly managed a dangerous shot attempt on goal even after gaining the numerical advantage early in the second half.
The Swiss and Ukrainians came out in their game in exactly the same 4-4-1-1 formation, and produced a lively first half with chances for both sides. The game was played at a high tempo and there was plenty of passion and hard work from both sets of players. Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko hit the crossbar with a diving header off a Kalinichenko free kick, and Swiss star Alexander Frei also rattled the woodwork with a superb 30 yard free kick. 0-0 at the break but there was plenty of action in the game which suggested that it was only a matter of time before the goals came. Unfortunately, it was not to be so! The tempo slowed down in the second half, and although there was plenty of guts and fighting spirit displayed by both sides, there was a distinct lack of quality from both teams in the final third of the field. The result was a drab 0-0 scoreline at the end of regulation time, and sadly, neither team really dared to venture forward in the extra time periods as well. So, we had the first penalty shoot-out of the 2006 World Cup! Shevchenko was the first man to take a penalty kick, but his shot was well saved by the Swiss keeper Zuberbuhler! However, the luckless Swiss were even worse from the spot as they missed their first 3 penalty kicks. Rebrov, Milevskiy and Gusev converted for the Ukrainians to send them through to the quarterfinals 3-0 on penalties!! It was a rare penalty shootout shut-out for the Ukrainians as well! They will now face the Italians, who will be heavy favorites to progress to the semifinal stage based on current form at least.
Tomorrow, the final round of 16 clashes feature Brazil v Ghana and France v Spain in two sensational matches!! Until then,.....
The Italians got off to a good start against the Australians and created a number of good chances in the first half. Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni were denied by a couple of excellent stops by Aussie keeper Mark Schwarzer. Australia were content to put men behind the ball and try to catch the Italians on the counterattack. With Harry Kewell injured, Australia were forced to play with just Mark Viduka as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation. It remained 0-0 at the interval with the Italians just having the better run of play in a tight contest. Italy coach Marcello Lippi chose to replace Gilardino with Vincenzo Iaquinta after the break and he immediately set up Luca Toni with a great cross but the big striker fired well over the bar from 12 yards out! Then, on 51 minutes, Italy were reduced to 10 men when Marco Materazzi was shown a straight red card for a two footed, studs-up tackle on Australia's Marco Bresciano. The Aussies sensed the momentum shifting and had much of the ball for the remainder of the second half, but were unable to break down a well-organized Italian defence marshalled by the excellent Fabio Cannavaro. Lippi then put on star forward Francesco Totti, who was surprisingly omitted from the starting lineup, for Alessandro Del Piero. This proved to be a masterstroke from Lippi, as leftback Fabio Grosso went charging up the field in the 92nd minute and was brought down, albeit rather unfortunately, by Lucas Neill. The referee awarded the Italians a penalty, and Totti stepped up and coolly fired Italy into the quarterfinals with the last kick of the game!!! Utter disappointment for the game Australians, though the final result was fair since the Australians hardly managed a dangerous shot attempt on goal even after gaining the numerical advantage early in the second half.
The Swiss and Ukrainians came out in their game in exactly the same 4-4-1-1 formation, and produced a lively first half with chances for both sides. The game was played at a high tempo and there was plenty of passion and hard work from both sets of players. Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko hit the crossbar with a diving header off a Kalinichenko free kick, and Swiss star Alexander Frei also rattled the woodwork with a superb 30 yard free kick. 0-0 at the break but there was plenty of action in the game which suggested that it was only a matter of time before the goals came. Unfortunately, it was not to be so! The tempo slowed down in the second half, and although there was plenty of guts and fighting spirit displayed by both sides, there was a distinct lack of quality from both teams in the final third of the field. The result was a drab 0-0 scoreline at the end of regulation time, and sadly, neither team really dared to venture forward in the extra time periods as well. So, we had the first penalty shoot-out of the 2006 World Cup! Shevchenko was the first man to take a penalty kick, but his shot was well saved by the Swiss keeper Zuberbuhler! However, the luckless Swiss were even worse from the spot as they missed their first 3 penalty kicks. Rebrov, Milevskiy and Gusev converted for the Ukrainians to send them through to the quarterfinals 3-0 on penalties!! It was a rare penalty shootout shut-out for the Ukrainians as well! They will now face the Italians, who will be heavy favorites to progress to the semifinal stage based on current form at least.
Tomorrow, the final round of 16 clashes feature Brazil v Ghana and France v Spain in two sensational matches!! Until then,.....
posted by Manoj at
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